Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Kidlit lunches and write-ins, oh my!

Whatever happened to that group that was meeting for "write-ins?" Are they still doing that?

Lisa
and Dori: We are! And it's starting up again THIS COMING TUESDAY, JANUARY 13! But we're changing things up a little in the New Year.
We're now calling it "Kidlit Lunch and Write-In." We meet at Crossroads
Mall in Bellevue every Tuesday and we'd love to have you join us.
Lunch/writerly chat starts at noon. Grab something from the
International Public Market/Food Court and look for our table mascots,
Dr. Seuss' Thing 1 and Thing 2 (see photo, below). Stay for a "write-in" after lunch. Or
not. It's up to you! Lunch is from noon–1pm, with the write-in
period from 1–3pm.

What's a "write-in?"

Lisa
and Dori: It's a term borrowed from NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing
Month). People who do set out to write an entire novel during the month
of November will often bring their laptops and meet up with others who
are also doing NaNoWriMo and they'll write together for a couple of
hours, each one working on their own novel.

Look for the Things on the table!

Yeah, but it's not November.

Lisa
and Dori: We know! We just like writing together for a couple hours a
week. There's a certain energy that comes from sitting quietly in a
group, working on your WIP away from the distractions of home, family,
THE INTERNET. . . not to mention looking around and seeing everyone else
working on their WIPs.

Do you share what you've written?

Lisa and Dori: Nope.

Then what's the point?

Lisa and Dori: To make progress on your WIP.

What if you're not working on a novel?

Lisa
and Dori: That's okay. Some of us are writing picture books. Some are
writing articles. Some are brainstorming plots in notebooks.

I don't know. I don't think I could write in a group...

Lisa
and Dori:Yeah, that's what we thought, too––until we tried it. Why don't you give it a go this coming Tuesday? Or just
come for lunch (noon–1pm) and chat about writing before we begin to write (1–3pm). Hopefully, you'll be convinced to stay!